McKenna Baby Summary: Week 42

NURSING
Things are still going well and we are nursing 4 times a day.

SOLIDS/FINGER FOODS
This week, I did something I never did with either of my other children before age one: I gave her meat. We had BBQ chicken sandwiches. The chicken was very, very tender and we had shredded it up, so I have her a bite. And she loved it! She wanted more and more.

I have been much more adventurous about offering McKenna a variety of foods. With my other kids, I thought they would prefer more bland flavor and I worried about them getting hooked on flavorful foods and ignoring the less flavorful foods. This time around, I am just trying to let her try everything we eat that is safe for her to eat.

ECZEMA
He skin is still great. We have gone down to lotioning once a day instead of twice. My friend is a lactation consultant and RN. She told me about a new study on vitamin D3 that found it helped minimize (or totally eliminate) eczema. She said if I took it, it would get to McKenna through my breastmilk. So I gave it a shot.

Two weeks later (it takes some time because it is fat soluble), my skin is softer than ever (I don't have eczema, but do have dry skin)! And McKenna no longer needs to be lotioned twice a day!

Another bonus of D3 is that it will increase the fat content of your milk! Talk to your doctor if you would like to try this.

DROPPING THE THIRD NAP
We are still in the weaning process. She has it some days and not others. She rarely can go two days in a row without. She usually is on an every other day schedule.

EARLY POTTY TRAINING
The Baby Whisperer talks about starting early potty training at 9 months. She says to eat, sit baby on potty, then play. This helps baby learn to potty on the potty.

For Brayden and Kaitlyn, the biggest obstacle with potty training was just figuring out how to pee/poop in the potty (we are still working on pooping with Kaitlyn). It is a new way of doing things. So I thought I would give it a try.

Well, that is a no go. I did it on one potty chair and McKenna really cried like I have never heard before. I gave it a couple of days and tried on a different potty chair. Still a no. She was terrified--and it was just a little potty chair. So we won't be doing that for a while :)

BATHTUB FEARS
McKenna is still taking baths in her little tiny tub. I tried moving her to sitting in the big tub, and she was so scared! It is so weird. I even tried it one day with Kaitlyn in the tub. I am not sure what it is, but maybe she doesn't like sitting on things with a bare bottom (related to the potty chair). I don't think it is a fear of the tub itself because I always put her little tub in the big tub. She just prefers to take her bath that way.

TEETHING
McKenna's second tooth is close to making its appearance. She has handled it better than she did last time. I can tell it bothers her, and she will be a bit more fussy during playtime sometimes, but naps are not disrupted in the least.

I have to tell you about a really great teething toy. At Christmas, I was trying to figure out a good gift for McKenna. She is our third child and second girl, so we have lots of stuff for her already. But I still wanted to give her some gifts. We got some books, which she loves. But what else? I searched Amazon and found Sophie the Giraffe. I was looking at their best seller list. Sophie is number one and has been in the top 100 for over a year. It has 444 reviews and a rating of 4.5 of 5 stars. I wondered what it was about this toy. It had great reviews. So I tried it.

She loves it! Really, really loves it. It is easy to hold, light, and soft. It squeaks and is a great teether. I very highly recommend it.

10:00 AM--nap
12:30 PM--wake, nurse, solids (green veggie and applesauce. Sometimes mix with blueberries or cherries).
2:10 PM--nap
4:30 PM--wake, nurse, solids (yellow veggie and bananas or pears).
5:30ish PM--dinner with family. Finger foods and what we are having.
6:45 PM--nap. Some nights, she stays up until 7:00. Since most of this week included this nap, I am including it in our schedule.
7:45ish PM--wake, nurse, PJs, story, bed
On nights we dropped the third nap, we did:

22 comments

I thought about trying the "early potty training" with my Sophia, now 12 months. We frequently have her diaper off to "air out" since she is really prone to diaper rash. So, incidentally she knows when she is peeing! And I am always cleaning it up. I thought about taking her to the potty, but her peeing is still fairly unpredictable.I know the Baby Whisperer recommends this, but Babywise says to be very cautious about starting potty training too early. So, I am leaning more towards waiting until I know she is ready and able (hopefully around 18 months or so). What are your thoughts on early potty training when they are not ready prolonging the process?Amy

My baby loves Sophie, too! It was a gift from my aunts when she was 5 months old and it's been a great toy. It's so easy to hold - long neck and skinny legs - and she loves to "gnaw" on it. I bet it's great on those gums. One day Sophie got dropped at a store and while I was back tracking looking for it, I thought - I'll just have to buy another one! (thankfully we found it)

I'm surprised that Baby Whisperer recommends nine months. (I haven't read her books yet.) I read a very little bit of Elimination Communication information on the Internet when my son was quite young, and I seem to recall that they said you really ought to start before five months, because after that, babies have already lost most of the awareness of what's going on down there (they contend that putting a diaper on them all the time trains babies to ignore what they are initially able to feel, even if they don't know what it means -- teaching them from early on about what they're feeling and training both you and baby to be aware of their cues for elimination needs is initially what they're looking to accomplish). I have done a very casual form of E.C. (the hardcore version is actually to go diaper free all or most of the time from infancy). My son was pretty consistent about poops, so I started with that when he was four or five months old -- if he didn't poop while nursing, I held him over a potty or the toilet afterward (I didn't sit him on it), and if he went, I told him in a cheerful voice what he was doing, and if he didn't, no big deal, just put him in a diaper again. Within a week, even if he didn't really need to go, he would clearly try to go (make grunting noises), because he knew what the after-meal potty routine was about. I would guess that since we started, I've caught at least as many poops in the potty than he's put in his diaper (though it's not consistent -- some weeks I miss them all the time, some weeks I catch almost every one). He's 19 months now, and is able to sit on the potty (up till recently I sat on the toilet and held him between my legs-- but I'm fairly slim and flexible, that may not work for everyone), and although he doesn't typically let me know beforehand that he needs to go, I can often tell (esp. with poops), and he knows what to do when I put him there. He's especially proud of himself when he uses the potty with Dad.I don't know if that helps at all; I don't think my son would have been comfortable with my trying to sit him on the potty that early on -- he really needed the extra stability from my holding him until pretty recently. The E.C. people say it's still worth trying even after five months, but it can be more challenging than if you start earlier.

Hi there -- just wondering when you give McKenna a bath? I didn't notice that in the schedule. We do story, bath, pjs, bottle. I am trying to push the bottle to pre-bed so am thinking of switching it to bottle, bath, pjs, story. Not sure how this will work!

I think so long as the child doesn't fight early potty training, it shouldn' be a problem. If the child resists and fights, I think it can cause problems down the road. But many kids will happily sit on the potty, and I don't think there is harm in that.

Jennifer, that is interesting. I don't think I necessarily believe that a child is less aware at 9 months...in fact, I would say children are more aware of everything at 9 months old. Thanks for sharing your experiences!

Daisy, I don't know if you have noticed in the last couple of weekly summary posts. I give McKenna a bath in the morning after breakfast, but we only do it every other day right now (but four days a week).

I was very interested in your comment about Vitamin D supplements and eczema. My son has eczema and was wondering if this could help him. He is 12 months and I still breastfeed him, but plan on weaning him in a few months. I take prenatal vitamins that contain 400 IU of Vitamin D. I also give him Tri-Vi-Sol because I don't think he gets enough sunlight in order to get the Vit D he needs (hopefully now it is warming up this will change). It sounds like you don't breastfeed McKenna anymore. Do you still take the supplement for yourself? Do you give McKenna a supplement to help with the eczema? Just wondering about your thoughts. Thanks for this blog, and I'm looking forward to your post about eczema.

I need some advice! My daughter is 42 weeks and I am struggling with the 4 hour schedule...her day looks like this:6:30-wake, nurse, solids(didn't eat much solids-could she be nursing too long?)8:30-nap10:30-wake, nurse solids (this seems too early for lunch)12:30-down for nap and wouldn't go down so I checked to see if she was hungry1:15-nurse, solids (like her lunch since she didn't eat much for breakfast) she really ate a lot this time so I know she was hungry2:40-nap4:00-wake5:00-nurse, solids5:45-finger foods with us7:30-nurse, jammies, story, prayers8:00-asleep

She is waking up at 6:30 all the time now, before she would sleep until about 7:15-7:30. Ideally I would like her to start her day between 8-8:30 and be on a 4-hour schedule. What do you recommend I do? Thank you!Jessica

This is Jessica again that posted earlier today. I wanted to let you know that we were on a great schedule until we went on a vacation for a week and when we came back she had a difficult time adjusting and that included still wanting to nurse once in the middle of the night. We finally have broken her of that and this is the schedule since she is finally sleeping through the night. It seems like when she is waking up she's so hungry and I nurse her both sides and then she's so full from nursing that she's not eating enough solids. (because she used to getting that first feeding of the day in the middle of the night) then it messes us up the rest of the day. Any ideas? Thanks!

This is Jessica again and I just wanted to update you on what we've been working on (I've been finding more answers as I read through your blog)...today her schedule:5:15-wake, nurse5:34-sleep7:34 wake7:45-nurse, solids10:35-nap11:45 wake, nurse solids2:00-down for nap2:35-fell asleep (thinking I can extend her wake time?)...and that's where we are right nowAs I read through your blog I'm thinking I need to let her CIO until it's time for breakfast? She normally wakes up at 6:30, not 5:30 I'm thinking 5:30 this morning because yesterday was all messed up as we are trying to get back on schedule. So, let her CIO or if she doesn't go back to sleep then let her play until breakfast and then after breakfast put her back down so say 7:30 breakfast 8:30 napI would really like for her to be waking at 8:00 so she's having dinner at 4. How can I adjust this?Thanks!Jessica

HI! This is Jessica and I know it says it's taking you a couple of weeks to catch up with your responses...I wanted to fill you in on what I've been doing with her schedule as we are in "stabilization bootcamp" :)7:00-wake, nurse, solids9:25-nap11:25-wake,nurse, solids ( I know this needed to be at 11...but with her 7am feedingI nursed her then an hr. later gave solids because I wanted to see if she would go back to sleep and didn't)2:00-nap3:00-wake, nurse, solids6:30-nurse, story, prayers, bed7:15-finally fell asleep9:15/9:45-dreamfeed

questions:1. Her day really needs to start at 8...through reading your blog in the mornings am I supposed to wait to feed 15 min. more each morning until I get to 8?2. since she just started STTN (her middle of the night feeding is now a dreamfeed) I realized she still needs this 5th feeding and the dreamfeed was the only option. 3. I know this dreamfeed could probably be dropped soon but wanted to work on establishing her wake time at 8 before I did this. Any suggestions?Thanks!Jessica

Thank you! Now my next question is-if she is on a 4 hour schedule (which we are still working out) this means she would eat lunch at 11 and dinner at 3...and then at 4 eat finger food with us but dinner is between 5-5:45. that's why i'm trying to push 8 but she is really resisting it.

So, do I go ahead and do her solids as well after her liquid feeding at 3? Then finger foods with us at dinner time? I'm just wondering if having those solids that early is too early? Someone on the yahoo group suggested what they do...3:00-nurse 5:00-nurse, solids 7:00-nurse(but she's starving by 5 and if I nurse her at 5 again she doesn't eat well right before bed)so, we have been trying this:nurse-3solids-4fingerfoods with us at dinner...but would you say that's snacking?Thanks!Jessic

When you mentioned Sophie the Giraffe here, that was the first time I had heard of it (her?). I was able to get one with my Huggies Reward points about a year ago in preparation for DD3. She's almost 6 months now. She (and my older two girls!) love Sophie and now I see her everywhere! Other kids have one, I see advertisements, etc. Thanks for the recommendation!